What to See & Do in The New Forest

New Forest Centre & Museum: Main Car Park, High Street, Lyndhurst | Tel: 02380 283444
Discovers the traditions, animals, plants, geography, heritage & history of the New Forest, which has been a living landscape for over 900 years. The museum is interactive with lots of secrets waiting to be discovered.The centre also has information on other New Forest attractions.

Brockenhurst Village: The village featured in the Domesday survey of 1086 & was the only village mentioned as having a church. The village has a well known ford running across the end of Brookley Road, it is also well served with local shops, tea rooms, pubs & restaurants. St. Nicholas Church, may date back to pagan times. A service is held in the churchyard each year on the Sunday nearest to Anzac Day to commemorate the New Zealand commonwealth soldiers who died in the 1914-18 war. There is a New Zealand war cemetery nearby. The churchyard also contains the grave of a famous local snake catcher; Brusher Mills, his headstone tells his story.

Heritage Railway Line | Lymington Flyer: Take a ride on an old ‘slam door’ train between Brockenhurst, Lymington Town & Lymington Pier Stations. These are the last 'slam door' train operating a scheduled service in the UK. Views on journey across Lymington Harbour & river. The Lymington branch line is just under 9 km in length and is single track throughout with no passing places. Click weblink for timetable. *Sad to say the Slam Door Trains were withdrawn from service on 22 May 2010 & replaced with deisel engines.

Brockenhurst Beach: A small sandy beach on the river found just outside of the Balmer Lawn Hotel, Brockenhurst. (Main Lymington to Lyndhurst Road.)

Brockenhurst FC: Grigg Lane, Brockenhurst, SO42 7RE
Brockenhurst were founded in 1898 & they became founder members of the New Forest League. The 2001-02 season saw the Badgers achieve a memorable FA Cup victory over non league giants Kingstonian. Season 2004-05 saw the club embark on an FA Cup run that ended in the 3rd qualifying round against Southern Laegue Bath City. The club are known as the Badgers.

New Forest Polo Club: New Park Farm, Brockenhurst. (A337: Between Brockenhurst & Lyndhurst. Regular matches May to September. Polo will commence at 2.00pm on both Saturday & Sunday. Refreshments available at the ground. An excellent view of the game is to be had from your car or seating at the edge of the pitch. £5 per car including occupants.
Click link for full fixture list.

Hidden Britain Tour: Tel: 01256 814222
Personal New Forest Guided Walks & Tours for small groups or even individuals. Tours carried out by professional tour guides with extensive knowledge of the New Forest. Discover about this beautiful area's flora, fauna, history and culture in the company of people who live and work here. Half day, full day or customised tours available.

Setley Ridge Vineyard: Lymington Road, Brockenhurst, SO42 7UF | Tel: 01590 622246
The vineyard is a family run business that tries to balance the art of winemaking with a sense of fun. They grow the grapes, make the wine and bottle all on site, & at the same time try to be sensitive to the environment. Wine and Farm shop is open 7 days a week from 10.00am to 5pm for free tastings and sales.

Spinners Gardens & Nursery: School Lane, Boldre, Hampshire, SO41 5QE | Tel: 01590 675488
Garden Open: 1st April-14th September. 10-5pm Closed Sundays. Nursery open all year. Set in two acres, Spinners is a plantsman's paradise, where the enthusiast can spend many happy hours browsing. The habitat plantings and plant associations are particularly interesting to study. Much of the garden is light woodland, so it has good collections of hydrangeas, lilies, hostas, rodgersias and ferns.

Furzey Gardens: Minstead, Lyndhurst, SO43 7GL | Tel: 02380 812464
Open daily 10am - 5pm March to October. Set in the heart of The New Forest at Minstead this delightful, informal garden was established in 1922 and is renowned for its all year round beauty. Features gardens, 16th century New Forest cobb cottage, 'The Will and Em' fine art gallery, lake & wetlands, arboretum, coffee shop, plant shop, tree houses and children's area.

Furzey Gardens Cobb Cottage: Minstead, Lyndhurst, SO43 7GL | Tel: 02380 812464
Open daily 10am - 5pm March to October. 'Cobb Cottage' is a restored forest cottage and garden which is thought to date back to 1560. This traditional thatched New Forest Cobb Cottage was probably built in the 16th century and with ancient ships timbers reputed to have come from the Tudor boatyards at Lymington. Children love to see how people used to live & the tiny bedroom where 13 children once slept .

Lyndhurst Village: Known as the ‘capital’ of the New Forest. A busttling village will excellent facilities, although it becomes very busy with traffic during the summer. The village has numerous shops, pubs, hotels & restaurants to suit every one. There are also three churches. The village is home to the Verderers' Court, the Forestry Commission and New Forest Museum. It also has an active Community Centre, Museum and an 18-hole golf course. Ideal for walkers as it is surrounded by miles of open forest land for the peaceful enjoyment of walkers. You can find details on the Lyndhurst Parish Walks from a Map board or the New Forest Centre in the village car park.

Burley Village: Renowned as one of the New Forest's most picturesque villages. Curiously witches, smuggling and dragons are also part of burley's unique character. During the late 1950's a famous 'White witch’ named Sybil Leek lived there. She was often seen walking around the village in a long, black cloak with her pet jackdaw resting on her shoulder. Today you will see plenty of tea shops & interestingly small stores to spend some time in.

New Forest Cider: Little Mead, Pound Lane, Burley, BH24 4ED | Tel: 01425 403589
What was once a cow shed and the village dairy is now a friendly shop and gallery! Take time to browse a variety of traditional produce including, a range of local sparkling ciders, perry, apple juice, preserves, country wines, & handmade pottery. While you are there, why not try a sample of local cider straight from the barrel, whilst watching a slide show of how New Forest Cider is made.

New Forest Airfields History Centre: Merryfield Park, Derrit Lane, BH23 7AU | 01425 672276
The Friends of the New Forest Airfields Educational Centre is to help the studies and research of those with an interest in the history of the New Forest Airfields. The Educational Centre, located in the FONFA offices near Bransgore, has a collection of books, photographs, models, prints, maps, DVDs and Videos, all relevant to the history of aviation in the local area. Visits to the centre can be made by appointment only.

New Forest Airfields Memorial: Holmsley South, Nr. Holmsley Caravan Park, Bransgore, BH23 7EQ
The memorial commemorate the people who had served on the twelve New Forest airfields during the second World War. The airfields played an important part in securing the eventual victory, and bought home thousands of prisoners-of-war and service personnel. They were involved in training, flying in defence and on offensive missions, to the ferrying of secret agents into occupied Europe. During D-day thousands of sorties were carried out. In addition to the Royal Air Force, American, Canadian, Free French, Polish, Australian and Czech units were based in the New Forest.